


My Ending My Beginning

by rosethorngirl



Series: Time After Time [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Alien Beings, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boeshani - Native Language to Jack/Jade, Companion Piece, Creative Liberties, Doctor In Love With Jack P/P/F, Explicit Language, F/M, Future!Jack, Future!Jack and Past!Jack Going By Their (Real) Names, Gallifrey - Eventually, Het and Slash, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, M/M sexual situations, Mpreg - Implied and Practiced, Multi, Past!Jack, Present!Jack, Timey-Wimey, Violence, Young!Jack in Present!Jack's Mind, implied polyamory, ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-24 04:49:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1592228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosethorngirl/pseuds/rosethorngirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Concurrent Companion Fic to “With A Wish And A Giggle” – The Doctor is longing for his Omega, his mate. But presently, Jack is in love with Ianto and completely unaware of what his future with the Doctor is supposed to be. As it should be according to the timelines, and timelines are law. So he's longing but patiently waiting for the day his mate finally comes home. Until Amy's desperate action to get them together threatens to send the entire universe into a tailspin. Oh boy, this could awkward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title: My Ending My Beginning  
> Rating: MA/NC-17  
> ‘Verse(s): “Time After Time,” and “Keeping Perfect Time”  
> Genre: AU, Slash, Concurrent Companion Fic to “With A Wish And A Giggle,” Romance/Angst/Drama/Sci-fi  
> Pairing(s): Jack/The Doctor (Past and Present), Jack/Ianto, Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Toshiko Sato/Owen Harper, and Doctor/River Song (only mentioned)  
> Characters: Dr. Who Ensemble/Torchwood Ensemble  
> Warning(s): Future!Jack, Past!Jack, Present!Jack, Young!Jack in Present!Jack’s mind, Doctor in love with a Jack from the future, Exposition of Jack/Doctor story in the show, Creative liberties, M/M Sexual Situations, Language, Violence, Alien Beings, Companion Fic, Implied/Mentioned/Discussed Rape/Non-con, Alpha/Beta/Omega themes, Mpreg – both Implied and Practiced, Implied Polyamory, Timey-Wimey stuff, Vague Future!Jack is Vague, Doctor doesn’t know everything but maybe he does, OOC, Future!Jack and Young!Jack go by their birthname (in my story anyway) Jade, Boeshani – Jack/Jade Native Language, Gallifrey – Eventually, and Happy Endings  
> Word Count: 1,505  
> Disclaimer: Don’t own Dr. Who, Torchwood, any of their characters or actors. Not gaining anything but some writing practice. Really just doing this for shits and giggles, guys.  
> A/N: This is the start of the companion story (or through line if you want to get all technical) to my other Jack/Ianto story “With A Wish And A Giggle.” It will run concurrently with the other story, and I would just add this into the other one but as I started this I realized it needed to be separate. You should read both stories together if you want to truly understand what’s going in this verse, but this story’s main pairing is Jack/Doctor (AKA Jade/Doctor). Just FYI. As far as when this falls in the show, I would say somewhere directly after “The Big Bang,” but not quite to “The Impossible Astronaut.”
> 
> Boeshani (And One Gaelic) Word(s) This Chapter
> 
> Dryjiefta (dreej-ayft-a): Pleasant Greetings  
> Mhuirnín (wer-nee) : Sweetheart  
> dja’ykdieu (sha- ik-joo): My Submissive/My Sub/My Submissive Mate  
> Potorango ke’fadess I’iem ‘n huama jun gasza. (Potor-ango key-fa-dezz I-yeem ‘n hoo-ama joon gaz-ta): I am the loving friend who will guide you home.  
> Alpha, lajua I’iem (Al-fa lashz-wa I-yeem): I’m sorry, alpha./Alpha, I am sorry.

Prologue

“Dryjiefta, alpha,” a velvety baritone said into his ear in a breathy whisper.

The Doctor froze in the middle of his repair, feelings as though every nerve ending was suddenly awake and alive all at once. He shivered while slowly turning to face the owner of that all too familiar voice.

“Jade. Dryjiefta,” he responded reaching forward to cup the honey kissed cheek in front of him. “It’s good to see you, mhuirnín.”

It had been over a year since he last saw his future mate, and he had spent that whole time doing his very best to keep himself from dwelling on him too much. He knows he’s been failing miserably, especially since his bright little redheaded companion seems to be onto him. She’s always whispering to Rory as if she doesn’t know he can hear her about the little tics and tells he has. Would be bloody annoying if he had the urge to care.

Jade took his hand from his face gently and kissed the back of it with a deeply bowed head: the perfect show of submission and respect. It warmed both of his hearts as well set fire to his veins, placing naughty images in his mind of his Omega and Gallifreyan satin sheets and lover’s knot restraints. 

But the Doctor knew his Omega well enough to know this wasn’t a social call. His posture was far too stiff, his behavior far too formal…something was wrong. His Jade would only be acting this way with him if he needed something or was afraid.

He steps forward and lifts the still bowed chin up so he can look deep into the fathomless ocean blue eyes that never fail to cancel out his respiratory bypass. “I know you didn’t just come here to make it impossible not take you to my room and fuck the daylights out of you, so what is it dja’ykdieu? What have you come to tell me?”

The beautiful blush that spread across the flawless cheeks. “I love it when you speak to me in Boeshani,” he says sincerely. “But I am here to warn you, alpha.”

The Doctor sighed and nodded. Taking Jade’s hand, he led him away from the consul room and to his personal quarters. “How are you, Jade?” he asks him curiously.

Jade smiles over at him happily, squeezing his hand, “I’m alright, alpha. Better than alright, actually.”

“Oh?” 

A fainter blush than the one before colors his face again. “I’m – uh…we’re pregnant,” he tells him meekly.

This almost stops the Time Lord in his tracks. Looking over at his future Omega with wide eyes and gasping slightly, he forces a smile on his face and trying not to show how jealous he was. 

“Really?” he asks as they reach the door. “That’s great news.”

Jade’s face was far too knowing. “You could sound a little more excited about it. You’re going to be a father.”

He swallowed, “Not me. Not right now at least. Future me is.”

“Still you, doofus,” Jade sighed, stepping up to his alpha with a small smile. “We’ve had this discussion many times, mhuirnín.”

The Time Lord waves him off as he opens the door and ushers him inside. “I don’t need a lesson in timelines and paradoxes, Jade,” he chides softly and closes the door. Watching as his lover sits on the edge of his four-poster hand carved bed like he owns made him swallow thickly in growing arousal. “I feel lucky enough that I’m allowed to know as much as I do. That I’m allowed to know – “

Goddamn.

Jade was slowly unbuttoning his shirt with a small, flirty smirk.

“That I’m allowed to – “

Okay. Shirt gone and no white t-shirt underneath, and that fucking infuriating lecherous grin. Bloody hell, but his mate was gorgeous wasn’t he? Clearing his throat and fighting to regain composure, Doctor attempted and failed a scowl.

“What did I say before? Tell me what you’re really here for before we – “ oh Christ there’s goes the trousers. “Jade!” he practically whined.

“Yes, alpha?” the other man replied innocently, making sure to bend completely over to pull his boots and trousers off.

‘His bum is still perfect. So round and perfect, begging for a cock – my cock – to be in it. Buggering it while it milks your cum from you. Fuck he’s probably already dripping wet. His hormones are making his body even more sensitive too. Smells so good, he’s so fertile,’ he thought absently and then shook it away violently. “No. No, no, no,” he mutters to himself with a little growl and distinctly ignoring the answering smile he got from his partner by the bed. “Now that’s enough of that until you tell me what you’re doing here.”

After Jade was completely naked he lounged back on the red silken sheets, making sure his alpha was watching every second of it. “Now where would the fun be in that? Make me stop.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed and his lips thinned, his inner alpha not liking to be challenged. Marching up to Jade he lifted his legs and back of the mattress and swatted his ass.

“Oh!” Jade calls out in surprise with a little giggle. “Feels good in every timeline,” he chuckles. He licks his lips as his body is dropped back on the bed. “Do it again!”

“No,” the impatient man tells him seriously, tone brooking no argument. “You are going to tell me, what you’re doing here.”

Jade cast his eyes down submissively. “Alpha, lajua I’iem,” he tells him dutifully.

The other man smiled down at his mate. “There’s my good boy.”

Grin coming back a little, Jade nodded before speaking. “A mistake is going to be made soon. One that could derail a lot of people’s lives, and not just our own. But you need to let it happen.”

Incredulous, the Doctor began removing his bow tie. “I need to let the mortal coil unravel? I don’t think so.”

Jade huffs, “No, alpha.” His little headshake made the Doctor force himself to refrain from laughing at just how cute the action was. “You need to let the mistake happen. You need to let it all play out. It’s important. And then you can fix it.”

“Right,” he says slowly, processing. “And it is safe to assume this mistake will have something to do with you.”

Jade nodded. “I can’t give you all of the details. Those you have to figure out on your own, but it’s imperative this happens. Otherwise my relationship with Ianto wouldn’t have – won’t – gah!” he growls. “No matter how old you get tenses never get any easier. My relationship with Ianto won’t develop like it’s supposed to if you don’t.”

Finding a pout beginning to spread across his face, the Doctor sighed. “Well we don’t want to throw anything off course…even if it will be hard to be around when you were all over him.”

His omega’s face grew soft as he reached up to stroke his alpha’s face. “What I felt for him has nothing to do with how I feel for you. Two completely separate things. But it will mess you and me up too if this doesn’t happen.”

“What else will happen? Why are you afraid I won’t let it?”

Jade bit his lip nervously. Haltingly, he replied, “Things will get a bit…hairy…around here and there…and everywhere for a bit.”

Brow furrowed he asked, “End of existence, hairy? Or literally hairy.”

“First one?”

With a snort, “Is that a question?”

Jade shrugged and reached up to begin unbuttoning his alpha’s buttons.

He wiped his face and blew out a breath. “Anything else you can tell me?”

“You’ll see the side effects long before you know the cause. You’ll need to go to Cardiff 2007. You’ll be able to track the energy signature to the exact date. But you need to get Torchwood to allow you to help. Especially with me. I won’t be…myself exactly.”

When the Doctor started to ask another question, Jade put a finger to his lips. “That’s all I can say.”

He nodded and leaned over his boy, Jade grinned up at him. He knew it was irrational, but he was damn jealous of his future self. Waking up to this delightful face every morning. Having kids and a family with Jade…getting to make kids and a family with Jade. He wished with both his hearts that time was here now.

Not in some distant future that he wasn’t allowed to know when exactly.

As if sensing his thoughts, the omega threaded his fingers through his hair and pulled so his body laid more fully on top him. “Soon, alpha,” he whispered hotly in his ear. “Sooner than you think. Trust me.”

Groaning, the Doctor fused his mouth over Jade’s possessively. He reveled in the whimper he got in return. There wasn’t much said after he finished getting himself undressed and slipped into the wet channel so sweetly offered to him. Not much needed to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 4,311

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so after this chapter is where chapter 1 of "With A Wish And A Giggle," Converges. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Amy Pond was many things. 

But she wasn’t stupid. She knew that something had been eating away at her Doctor for a while. Sadness lingered in the corner of his eyes; and not the usual kind you come to associate with him. If you blink, you would believe you missed it but she knew better. Her Doctor was thinking of someone…

…someone special to him.

Now this wasn’t something she came to observe all at once. The Doctor was trickier than that when it had anything to do with his emotions or what he believed to be private thoughts. 

No. This was compounded off the last several months’ worth of watching and cataloguing him. Filing away fact after fact like puzzle pieces, hoping she could at least begin to get the outline sketch of the man/alien she ran away from everything for.

She first noticed when diverting the Dalek invasion and destruction of Earth back in 1941. She had saved the robot man by making him think of the person his love was forbidden to, and the Time Lord had given her this look. Like maybe for just a moment he was thinking of who that person was for himself. 

Which, after getting over her brief insanity of thinking the man had feelings for her, assured her that the story of this man was a story worth reading cover to cover. The long way. Because any person who had a forbidden love out in the universe somewhere, is a person worth your careful attention. 

For example, he’s tense and almost angry whenever a person calls him “Doc” instead of “Doctor.” Like that nickname was reserved for someone else; and if anyone dared say it, it was disrespecting the memory somehow.

He has a habit for derailing or completely shutting down in the middle of conversations if the topic is in anyway related to his past incarnations. He not only doesn’t like to talk about it, he adamantly refuses to. Which Amy could accept on some level, but she often wondered why he was so belligerent about it. There was not living in the past, and then there was pretending the past didn’t exist.

He has an odd affinity of playing Glen Miller while doing repairs on the TARDIS. Even asked the DJ at her and Rory’s wedding to play one of his songs for their one and only dance. And for some reason she had known in that deceptively strong hold, she wasn’t the one he was dancing with.

He keeps a bottle of something called “hypervodka” in the kitchen cupboard; but for some reason it looks as if it hasn’t been touched in years.

When they came across an injured young boy on the planet Kraylon 7 named “Jack,” the Doctor immediately asked for his surname and proceeded to only call him that. Amy wouldn’t have normally find this that odd - as it was, the man often referred to her by her surname – but when she asked after the boy later, his face became pinched telling her he was fine. 

It was then that she decided it was safe to assume whomever this person that her Doctor was missing his name was obviously Jack. 

It left her with more questions though.

Who was this Jack? Why was his memory so painful the Doctor didn’t want to share anything about him? What had he done to make the Doctor miss him so much?

Where was he?

Questions that came to a head one very early morning as she was wandering to the kitchen to get a glass of water. 

She found her Raggedy Man sitting behind the monitor on the center consul, watching a video and nursing a glass of some kind of blue drink that certainly wasn’t punch. This should have been odd enough since she had never actually see him indulge in alcohol of any kind.

The video upon closer inspection was actually security footage of somewhere back on Earth, and from what she could tell looking suspiciously familiar like it was somewhere in the UK. 

In retrospect, it shouldn’t have been as easy as it was to sneak up on the man, but he was intensely focused on the screen. Like it held all the answers he needed to questions she couldn’t possibly hope to ever understand. Like if he could reach into the screen and touch whatever he was seeing there, he’d do it without caring for the consequences. 

It startled her.

She had never seen such raw vulnerability on the Doctor’s face, and briefly debated whether she should forget her water and leave him to his video. But the decision was taken from her though when she looked down and saw a picture laying on the empty half of the jump seat. She let a little gasp at the contents slip before she could stop herself.

In the photo was a man, a very attractive man, with dark hair and bright blue eyes gazing forwards giving an easy smile. The man almost looked as if he was laughing, or having just finished laughing, as the very small lines around his gorgeous eyes were pulled in amusement. 

But before she could choose to either scurry away and pretend that she had witnessed nothing of the goings on of that night or get closer to see the man in the photo better, the Doctor was galvanized into immediately picking up the photo and forcefully slamming the button that turned the monitor off.

This of course proved for certain that the special someone the Time Lord had been pining after silently was a man named Jack. And the man named Jack was the blue-eyed person in the photo. 

But who was he to the Doctor?

Son? Grandson? Extended family? Friend? Friend’s extended family? Lover? Friend’s lover or a friend? Someone he had saved or someone he had lost, gods forbid?

The bow tie wearing man, with the often-wacky sense of humor, stood abruptly; sending her one of the darkest of glares she had ever seen him wear. If she was anything less than whom she was, she would’ve been afraid. Instead she crossed her arms and sent him one back with what she hoped contained the same level of intensity. If the Doctor wanted an argument than she was prepared to give him one. 

What she wasn’t prepared for was the Doctor observing her for a moment, before turning to pick up his drink and walking out of the room.

He called after her with a, “Come along, Pond,” tossed over his shoulder tiredly.

She had followed him down a winding corridor that she hadn’t seen before while aboard the ship. The TARDIS’s constant, steady hum changed slightly; almost as if she didn’t like what her pilot was about to do. And the Doctor must have recognized it, because he had lovingly run his hand along wall as if giving the ship comfort.

“I know old girl,” he muttered with an adorable little slur, “but this ole chap can’t hide from this forever, can he?”

The answering hum had unsettled Amy, but she continued on until they reached a door to what was obviously a bedroom.

The Doctor took a deep breath before opening the door and turning the light on, which revealed what she had originally assumed: a bedroom. This she was not surprised to see. What she was surprised to see was what was in there.

A military coat tossed over the back of a wingback chair, a bottle of some form of alcohol that she had never heard of left open on the side table next to a book about complicated technology titled something she couldn’t pronounce, an armoire with doors slightly ajar revealing a minuscule wardrobe consisting of soft looking jean trousers and solid color jumpers, and a perfectly made bed with a dark colored duvet and what appeared to be extra fluffy pillows.

She had looked to her Doctor then, wanting to see if she suss out what this was and why she had been lead here; but the look on his face stopped her from rudely asking any questions. He had tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as he looked on with almost reverence of the place. Obviously, whatever she was being allowed to look at had something to do with this Jack person.

She watched him as he stepped inside slowly, taking time to stroke the military coat on the back of the wingback chair that was in front of a small fireplace. She would have followed, but she felt like her presence would have probably not been welcome in what could only be described as a shrine to someone she didn’t know anything about. It was best for her to stay in the doorway and let her Raggedy Man do his memory lane thing on his own.

Without looking at her he began speaking slowly, the slight slur from before still somewhat present, “You’ve asked me before about my past selves. What I was like. Who my companions were. Right?” He looks over at her, his expression unreadable. 

Amy shifted from foot to foot under his penetrating gaze and answered, “Yes. I have.” She was careful to keep most emotion from her tone out of reverence to the quiet spell that had befallen the atmosphere. 

The TARDIS gave a slight moan, if it could be called a moan, like it was in mourning. Whatever the Doctor was about to tell her was important, and she hoped that by the end she may come to understand this man better than ever before.

“Well, Amelia, this is the room of one of them,” he softly replied and sat in the chair, taking another swig out of the glass in his hands. 

The sound of the ice tinkling along the side of the tumbler resonated loudly in an otherwise silent space. The Doctor looked to be a level of weary she didn’t believe capable of anyone else, which was only enhanced as the fire in the fireplace spontaneously came to life and the overhead lamps dimmed very low casting her Doctor’s face in dancing shadows. She refrained from making any comment to his, knowing it would upset him. But silently she patted herself on the back for putting the pieces together correctly by herself.

The Doctor cleared his throat and got comfortable in the chair, looking for all the world like a man bunkering down to tell a small child a story. And annoyingly, she realized that’s exactly what this was.

“The person this bedroom belonged to was a man named Captain Jack Harkness,” he paused. “Well that’s how most people know him anyway. That particular alias he uses.” He swirls his glass and watches the liquid thoughtfully. 

She bit her lip, “He has more than one name?”

The bitter laugh that answered her told her everything she needed to know. “’S’more of a moniker, really, instead of an name-name. Much like ‘Doctor.’ ‘s not my given name, but it’s as much my name as my given name. So might as well be. Using your real name when you travel through time and space developing enemies ‘s a tricky business, ya know?”

She nodded her reply and gestured for him to continue.

He sighed. “Anyway. Jack was – ‘s…Jack is hard to explain to someone who doesn’t ‘nderstand the full levity of timelines ‘n such. Most would probably think me a nutter,” he snorted and mumbled, “maybe most ‘re right.”

The sight and sound of this man in front of her uttering almost indistinctly was rather absurd. She had an urge to be recording this, not because of the story, but because she doesn’t think she has ever or will ever see him so trashed. And she also wants to be able to convince herself that she hadn’t imagined it…but instead she brushes those thought away and focuses again.

Squinting at him she asked, “Is he like River then? With the whole ‘wife’ mystery and…whatever else she’s always saying about time and space and…stuff?”

Looking up at her the man replied as carefully as he could in his state, “No. Not really ‘s much. Jack’s a mystery in that…well he’s not a mystery at all to me.” He chuckles to himself there and takes another swig of his drink. 

“River I still don’t know what the ‘ell the circumstances are ‘f our paths convergin’. Jack ‘n I…I…I,” he stared off searchingly into the middle distance for a moment and hiccupped, “I know them all too well, I guess ya could say. ‘Cept on the other hand I also really don’t. It’s more like I’m the River and he’s the me; reading our story backwards and forwards all at the same time.”

And what exactly did that mean?  
“Who is he?”

Annoyed he said, “I jus’ told you, Pond. He’s Captain Jack – “

She holds up a hand, “No. No. I heard that. I mean who is he to you, Doctor? Other than a former – or present – or…well…whatever the right term would be companion to you?”

A flicker of something very interesting passed over the older man’s face. 

He sat back and huffed to himself, taking another drink as if for courage. “He’s…well…he’s Jack.” He chuckled and smiled to himself lost in memories. “There really isn’t a proper title for ‘im other than Jack. Cuz any title you can come up with he is for me. Own category. Completely and utterly separate from…everything.” He hums to himself, “Potorango ke’fadess I’iem ‘n huama jun gasza.”

“What?” she asks severely confused.

Jerking out of his reverie, he blinks at her then waves it off. “Alien language. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

She nods disbelievingly before resituating herself and leaning more comfortably on the doorframe. “So where is Jack then?”

He shrugs, looking into the bottom of his glass and watching as he swirls it slowly. “Everywhere. Anywhere. Somewhere,” he answers vaguely. Then with a darker tone, “Just not here. Never here for long.”

“So then he is like River?”

Scowling in irritation, he shakes his head firmly, “No. ‘S different with Jack.”

“Why?”

Why indeed. He shakes his head. “When he and I were travelling together something happened t’him. Something that should never happen. Specially to a human. But the girl we were with – Rose, ‘nother companion ‘f mine ‘n nother ball’o wax ‘d rather not dis’uss…ever – she did somethin’ that shouldn’t happen ‘n an effort to save both me n’ the entire universe. Consumed the power of the Time Vortex by staring directly into the ‘eart of the TARDIS.”

Her mouth dropping open in shock, she wasn’t able to keep the “She did what now?” to herself.

“T’be fair, if she hadn’t the world ‘n poss’bly the universe’d be over ‘n the year 200,100. So eh…do what ya have to, I guess.” He shrugged and slouched a little. Then the Doctor gave a grim smile. “A human mind is not capable of absorbing and maintaining that kinda knowledge ‘n raw energy.”

He hiccupped a little. “Well actually no mind is, but being that ’m a Time Lord I retain a lot of it anyway. The knowledge, mind, not the power ‘s much…only sometimes. But never mind that, this isn’t about Rose defeating Daleks; it’s about what she did t’Jack.” 

His voice became tinged with an undercurrent of melancholia. Amy hoped she was hearing everything over the constant thought glaring in her mind that someone – a human someone – could single handedly wipe out what was most probably a crap ton of Daleks by somehow harnessing and channeling pure Time Vortex power. Mind boggling didn’t begin to cover it.

“Jack was such a brave lad that day. Faced certain death, knowing he wasn’t going to be coming back to us ‘ut doing it anyway. For me. To give me more time t’finish something I didn’t even use,” yes, Amy had noted to herself, that was anger with himself in his tone. 

He sneered at the fire flames. “He died. I felt him die ‘n it hurt worse than I could ever imagine. Like-Like a loppin’ off one ‘f my limbs and getting stabbed through both my ‘earts.” He choked up a little and then swallowed. “It hurt so much. I wanted the Daleks to win, cause I didn’t want to go on livin’ without ‘im. Doing that already with my people. Couldn’t do it again…” Shaking his head, “Then Rose showed up ‘n brought him back…and instead of running to him like I wanted to do I was forced t’leave ‘im behind.”

“Why?” she asked sadly.

Her Raggedy Man lifted his glass and finished the last of the drink. “I’m a Time Lord, Amy,” he tells her with the weight of an overly long life hanging in his tone. “It’s my job t’preserve timelines. N’ if I wanted t’keep what I knew needed to happen in tact, as well as just what I wanted t’happen for myself in tact, he had t’stay behind.” 

With a scoff to himself he shook his head again. “Closing those doors though, knowing he was running t’them…knowing I was leaving him behind…one of the hardest things ’ve ever done. Its begun to be a pattern where that frustrating man in concerned, on both sides.

“What timelines were you preserving? And where’s Jack now?” 

Tilting his head in thought, “Many ways t’answer that, but simplest answer would be the timeline of the survival of the human race depended on that decision. My timeline, my personal timeline also depended on that decision.”  
He cleared his throat. “Jack’s more than a companion t’me, Amelia. He’s…He’s an extension ‘f me, I guess.” He looked up imploringly at her and she hoped she was giving him support to continue in her expression. “What Rose did, bringing ‘im back the way she did, made Jack something called a ‘fixed point.’ A point the universe sustains ‘petually; a point that is as much apart of time as time is apart of him.”

Her blew open wide at this.

“The universe is built upon fixed points,” the Doctor explained slowly. “Things…events…meetings…anything that’s fixed have t’be. They cannot be changed lest you wanna uncoil time and the universe itself. They’re suspended in the Time Vortex. Shining bright as suns, almost like lanterns guiding us as we travel through time.”

“And Jack is one of those?” she asked with surprise in her tone. “He’s that important in the universe that if he were to change everything falls apart?”

Nodding he continued, “And not only would the universe fall apart, I would too. And not just because I…” he bit his lip and looked away.

Smiling slightly she gently nudged, “…love him?”

The Time Lord chuckles, “A human would put it that way, yes.” He looks back into his glass in his hand. ‘That would be the equivalent ‘f what Jack is t’me to…well you: a romantic partner.” 

He rubbed his face and sighed. “Humans ‘re such funny creatures. Needing labels ‘n words for everything; absolutes that they can depend on. Never stops to fasc’nating me. How much emphasis you put on things like ‘boyfriend,’ ‘girlfriend,’ ‘husband,’ ‘wife,’ and so on,” He rambles. “They’re just words though, y’know. ‘Love’ is just a word. It’s the feeling behind the words that gives ‘em meaning.”

The redhead wanted to be slightly offended by his tone, but she was too busy trying to understand all of what he was telling her. Certainly she was learning more about Time Lords and this particular Time Lord than anyone would know. She wanted to be sure she remembered it.

“And you lot talk and talk about unconditionally loving somebody, but don’t really understand what that even means. It’s just…funny. How you” he gestures to her, “look at me even now, wanting me t’explain all ‘f this t’you in a way you’re human brain can understand. Like I’m human.”

He grew serious after chuckle as he looked at her again, speaking almost perfectly clear for the first time in the whole of their conversation. The look almost made her flinch. 

“I’m not human though, Amelia. I’m a Time Lord. Time is apart of me; the Vortex ‘s apart of me. Therefore, fixed points and points in flux are apart of me.”

He leveled her with a mostly sober stare, “You look at the places we go and you see new adventures. I don’t just see that. I see all that place’s adventures over all the time it’s existed and feel all the things ebbing and flowing around us. I see what is, what could be, what has been, and what never should be.”

Finding her voice, she said hoarsely, “That’s a lot.”

He smirked and looked away, breathing deeply.

“Jack is a part of time. Thus he’s a part of me. Someone I can feel in my head no matter where in the universe I am or where he is. But he’s a walking, breathing person. Not just an event or meeting laying dormant in my subconscious, telling me what is and isn’t right. Wherever he goes, I feel it. If I focus on him hard enough I can almost see him even. He shines so…brightly. All the time in my mind no matter what I’m doing.”

 

Tears gather in his eyes and Amy wouldn’t look away even she could.

“You see that’s something that’s bigger and more complex than what the word ‘love’ could ever explain. It…transcends it. Because it’s deeper than lust and all the things you humans associate with love. You want monogamy and promises of forever with the person you label as your significant other. One generation ‘f a Time Lord’s can live t’be more than a thousand years old…’f he’s careful enough, anyway. And in all that time we can have countless wives, husbands, and children because that kind of physical love changes frequently.” 

Taking a deep breath he shakes his head to himself, calming down to continue not quite as intensely. “What doesn’t ever change is time itself. And that’s what Jack is to me: time itself. But even more than that, in addition to being all of that, Jack has also been apart of my life since almost the very beginning. He just doesn’t know that yet.”

Reeling from all the new information, she crossed and uncrossed her arms a few times trying to form an appropriate response that didn’t make her sound like the simple human she actually was. “Is that because he’s a fixed point? You’ve always seen him and felt him like that?”

He shook his head with a thoughtful frown. “Not precisely no. I mean, yes, but no. Yes, because since birth his timeline was discussed and taught to us. About the important things his legacy upheld. But no, because a future version of him has been popping up in all my regenerations since the first time I stole this beautiful ship and visited Earth.” 

“Wow,” she breathed. “That’s like the ultimate companion.”  
He smiled a little, “He’s not consistently with me, at least not all the time, but there often enough. Acting as a sounding board, leading me t’make the right decisions. Sometimes being the only one t’take my anger at the unfairness ‘f it all.”

He had blushed only slightly as he murmured, “Whatever that may have meant in the heat of the moment.”

Smirking she let the comment go, but felt validated having assumed the two were lovers and being right again.

“But those Jacks aren’t the Jack that is currently on Earth protecting humanity. The Jack that I travelled with when Rose and I saved him from the London Blitz isn’t the Jack I know either. That Jack, my Jack, technically doesn’t exist yet. I’m not even sure from when in my timeline that Jack is from. And I can’t ever know until it happens or I risk losing the future as well as the past and present as well.”

Amy didn’t known what to say to that. Wasn’t sure if there was anything she could say. An apology felt condescending and rude. She couldn’t sympathize with him because she had no idea what that felt like, knowing where the love your life is but still being so very far away from them. She decided a question was a better approach.

“So that’s where he is then? On Earth, defending the world?”

He nodded at her and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Cardiff. He’s the head of something called Torchwood. They handle threats to the planet ‘n whatever might wash in through the Rift.”

“Rift?” she asked curiously.

“In time ‘n space, yeah. A crack into the universe, almost like a fault line ‘f you will. Items from other planets and other centuries come through it. Torchwood sits on top of it monitoring the activity and collecting the stuff so it doesn’t get released to the regular public’s hands.”

He sounded almost proud. It made her smile.

She let the silence continue, watching this impossible person’s profile and told Rory about it later. Disclosing all the things she uncovered about their mutual friend. He had gotten this funny look on his face, almost like he sympathized with the Doctor. 

She told Rory then that she didn’t know what to do to make it better. If there was a way to get Jack’s attention, or find out where in Cardiff he was. Just so the Doctor could see him again. For any reason. But Rory expressly refused to help, citing that that road led to nothing good and he wanted no part in it. 

Thus she was back at square one only with more information. She promised herself though that if she ever got the opportunity to make a reunion possible, she’d jump.

And when that day came not too long later, she was ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments, Kudos, and Bookmarks Appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 3,202  
> Disclaimer: Don’t own anything but the plot.  
> A/N: And so we reveal what happened to Jack and how the universe gets throw into danger as Amy makes a choice. Thanks for your continued support! The words written here that are not in English are in Latin, and they have been translated. Comments, kudos, and bookmarks are appreciated!

Chapter 2

Plane Antiquae Quinque Magistratus In Re Principalem   
(Plane of the Ancient Guardians of the Fundamental Five)   
No Official Date – Existence Outside Flow of Natural Time

The rolling hills stretched out before her eyes like an endless sea of sameness. The air hung thick with the stench of slowly rotting intelligence from the lack of creativity. 

This was her life. Everyday.

Searching these lands for a sign. For anything to tell her something would change soon.

And she was growing weary, so very weary with everything around her.

Her people were once mighty and part of the ebb and flow of the aging universe. Helping to shape it, mature it, teach it and discipline it. And now her people were in ruins. Lost to the place outside of reality, forced to watch and wait for their time to rise again. 

All because of one.

She held tightly to her totem – a meager stone compared to the once might mountain – that held the waning power of her people. It was presented to her before she began this quest. She held tightly and looked up to the blackened sky, hoping her silent message of her continued perseverance would reach them. But she knew, oh how she knew, that the longer they stayed out here the less receptive their minds became.

She was Queentia, Guardian Empress of Opportunity. One of the Praecipuum Esse of the Vita Elementaribus. (The Fundamental Beings of the Life Elementals.)

It was her duty to restore what was lost.

But the longer she wandered the more she lost faith in there ever being an opportunity to seize. To use as a gate for her people to come through so they can go home.

Until she finally found it. 

A crack across the farthest hill from any form of life, it radiated power. She could feel it from the bottom flowing into her blood and reawakening her strength to bend situations to her will. 

Oh, yes. 

This was her opportunity. This is where she would finally begin to enact her mission to save her people, whatever the cost to anyone else. 

Just the same as the one acted whatever the cost to them.

Steeling herself for the pain of falling through a crack in time and space, she jumped. 

TARDIS  
The Vortex  
Approximately 1 Month After The Discussion

Amy was sitting on the jump seat in the Console Room flipping through a holographic shopping magazine from the Fasdainian Mall of the Universe and pretending not to watch her Doctor. He was quietly muttering to himself while tinkering with something underneath the center console, the sight amused her to no end. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he and the TARDIS were having a lover’s quarrel.

Since their talk in Jack Harkness’ room, not much changed amongst the Doctor, Rory and her. They still traveled, ran for their lives, and saved whole planets and races of people as per status quo. However, she’d noticed over the last month he was becoming more and more reclusive and jittery. Like he was expecting a shoe to drop but not having a clue where it’ll land. 

The behavior was starting to annoy her, if she was honest; and let’s face it, she’s Amy. She’s always brutally honest. 

Yet, for some reason, it irked her more than usual. It wasn’t as if she was a stranger to the Raggedy Man’s mercurial personality, far from it. But there was just a new edge to it that set her teeth on edge.

She had presented her feelings to her wonderful husband the night before, and he proposed it had something to do with their discussion. Like perhaps he regretted revealing so much about himself; or maybe it forced him to open an already bleeding, festering wound. That maybe instead of comforting him as she had hoped to do, she wound up making his yearning worse.

The thought annoyed her further, no matter for the niggling notion that perhaps Rory was right.

“Ah! Ow!” the Doctor hissed a little ways from her on the other side of the console. 

She watched as he pushed his wheelie cart out from under the panel and shake his hand with a grimace. He glared behind himself as if silently scolding the machine, and huffed.

“You alright there, Doctor?” she asked with a little bit of mischief in her voice.

He sighed and rubbed his sore hand. “Just attempting to update a few things. Stuff she apparently doesn’t appreciate me mucking about with.”

“A girl rarely enjoys someone ‘mucking about’ in her insides.” She chuckles, then pauses to amend, “Unless of course the ‘mucking about’ involves – “

“That’s enough, Pond,” he cuts her off, raising his uninjured hand.

She smirked at him and closed her holomag, “You can be such a prude at times.”

Distinctly ignoring his huff of annoyance she swung her legs over the other side and crossed her arms over her chest. “So,” she said with a pointed eyebrow.

The other man was already back to his work and replied with a grunted, “Yes?”

“You going to tell me what’s bothering you yet?”

The Doctor hissed as he was shocked by something again, not even bothering to answer her.

She groaned and laid her head back. “You have to tell me at some point,” she groused. “I know it’s about Jack,” she ventured, picking at her nails. “You miss him. We could just – “

“No,” he answered tersely. 

“But – “

“I said no,” he growled. 

She huffed and reclosed her arms across her chest firmly, glaring at his form, “Not even an explanation for why?”

She was met with silence. Sighing deeply, Amy rested her head back against the arm of the jump seat and closed her eyes. Willing away the sounds of the Doctor’s frustrated grunts and focusing on the steady, calm hum of the TARDIS.

A few minutes later Rory came in.

She opened her eyes and waved at him as he came down the stairs into the orange-lit room. 

“Were we planning to go anywhere today?” he asked and pushed her feet up so he could sit under them.

The Time Lord pushed himself back out from under the console and gave each of them a rather direct and aggravated look. “We won’t be going anywhere for a good long while, if you keep distracting me. There are an infinite number of rooms aboard. I’m sure you can find something to entertain yourselves for a few hours.”

“God, you’re such a grump lately! It’s obvious you miss him, so why don’t we just go and see him?” Amy responded, getting up. 

The Doctor immediately laid down on his cart with a hard set frown and pulled himself back under the console.

Rory took her hand when it looked like she was going to say more. “We’ll go to the Telly room. Let us know when we’re…somewhere.”

The Doctor nodded and resumed his repairs, as Rory led his wife away from the room. She followed with little protest, only because she was angry and didn’t want their distant pilot to hear her complaints.

“He has to admit, once and for all, he wants to see his lover. His attitude is beginning to wear my patience with him!” She told Rory once they get inside the room designated to entertainment.

Rory sighed as he watched his wife peruse the shelves of selected movies for the month.

The TARDIS had a copy of almost every television show and movie ever made from both past and future. So instead of housing it all in the room at one time, it selects some to set out for her passengers for a period of time and then changes it.

“You really need to stop pressuring him,” he says and sits on the Gurj’yikian couch that was sat in front of the theater sized movie screen. “We don’t really have a right to be poking into his life – “

“We bloody well do have a right!” Amy snapped and turned to her husband. “We are aboard a ship in space and barely know anything about him, but he knows everything about us! I’ve been chasing after him my entire life! I bloody buggering do have a right to know!”

Rory’s eyes narrowed at her. “You,” he scoffed slightly and shook his head. “Yes, that’s right. I forgot. Everything in this universe is about you. So you have a right to know a man’s life when you’re aboard his ship as a guest. A ship I may add you didn’t have to board and leave off in, in the first place!”

Amy backed down a little bit and crossed her arms. “You aren’t being fair.”

“No!” Rory nearly shouted and stood, coming to stand directly in front of her. “No, for the first time in a good long while I am being the most fair I could be. I’m putting this in perspective for you, once and for all.”

Amy kept herself as still as possible, to keep her husband from seeing how upset she was with his yelling. 

“You left me!” he actually shouted. “You agreed to marry me, then your childhood hero comes calling and it’s, ‘Well, sod Rory. He’ll still be there when I get around to him. Sometime. Eventually. Maybe.’ If the Doctor hadn’t forced you to, you would have never asked for me. I’d forever be wondering where you are. Like a buggering idiot!”

“That’s not true,” she whispered, stunned. It was a startling moment for her when she realized, they had never properly had this out. She had thought marrying him had finally settled for him who she chose. But maybe not.

“It isn’t? Even after all that’s happened these past two years, it hasn’t changed. Everything is still on your terms! When you want it, how you want it…everything. Doesn’t matter if it’s about the Doctor or the bloody toast in the toaster!”   
Rory scoffed and ran his hand through his hair, “Some days I wonder if you know how selfish you can be. Or even care to think about it.”

“Alright!” Amy yelled back, choking a little on her tears. “You’ve made your point. What are you wanting me to say?”

Staring intently at each other Rory finally shook his head. “I don’t know, Amy. Nothing,” he shrugged and huffed. “I want you to open your eyes and see how your actions hurt people. But I don’t know how to make that happen, and maybe I’m tired of trying.”

She tried to protest, but Rory held up a hand to silence her. “I’m not breaking up with you, I just need some space.” He looked her directly in the eye and said with conviction, “I love you, Amelia.” 

He turned to walk to the door and added, “But I’m not sure if you really love anyone but yourself.”

Amy choked slightly on her tears and watched him go. Wiping her eyes she cursed at the air and gave off a frustrated shriek. Then calming down she crossed her arms and stared into the middle distance, not knowing what to do and feeling very lost.

A childish giggle filled the air all around, causing her to jerk and look around. Sniffling, she called out, “Who’s there? Doctor?”

The giggle was a little louder this time but still sounding far off and almost incorporeal. Amy looked everywhere as she backed up against the shelf of movies behind her. There was nothing that she could see other than the couch and other pieces of furniture. The only she felt was fear. Not even the TARDIS’ soft thrum was present.

Choking on a sob, she fights the urge to cry again as the giggle returns, and this time very close to fully present.

“You can’t be here,” she gasped out. “You don’t belong…who-whoever you are. This is the TARDIS, and you can’t just – “

The giggle sounded more solid then, causing her to actually sob. Slowly she turned her head to where the sound came from and drew in a sharp breath. 

Instead of a child, it was a fully-grown woman with glowing blue skin was grinning at her. Her hair was long and the brightest purple she had ever seen, with streaks of red and green. Her eyes were as black as coal, and abnormally large, as if round saucers for irises. Her clothes were loosely draped over her mature form, only covering enough to provide a farce of modesty. 

“What?” Amy asks as the alien woman walks forward. “Who are you?”

The giggle from before was back as the woman reached forward and stroked her cheek, almost adoringly. “An opportunity,” the alien smiled revealing decidedly human looking teeth.

Amy panted slightly and jerked her face away from the touch. “What?” she scowled. “Who are you? And how did you get aboard this ship? When the Doctor – “

“Hush now sweetling,” the woman grinned and pulled back, beginning to walk around the room. 

Her…well, Amy guessed the best her clothes could be described, were robes… swished around her bare feet as she grazed her hands along the wall. Amy stayed as still as possible, trying not to panic and figure out how to alert the Time Lord to this alien presence. 

The woman giggled again then and turned her face slightly to look the companion over, “Trust me, human. I want the Doctor to know of my whereabouts. So go ahead and scream for him.”

The red head held her breath as the alien turned to fully face her again. “The only problem is if you break this vision, you will lose your opportunity I am here to grant you.”  
“Opp-Opportunity for what?” Amy asked.

The alien woman gave her a decidedly wolfish grin. “To fix it.”

Her brow furrowed she watched as the woman sighed and flexed her arms, stretching and revealing more of her perfect blue form. It made Amy blush slightly, but she refused to look away.

The woman sat gracefully on the couch. “I’m sure you would like to know what it is that I am offering to fix; but honestly child, after that blowout with your mate is it really any wonder?”

That did make Amy look away in mostly shame. “What concern is my relationship to you?”

“None,” the woman giggled. “Really, I couldn’t care less for human dalliances. It’s all so very trivial. That wasn’t what I was referring to.”

Confused, “Then what? And you still haven’t told me your name.”

“I am Queentia. The Guardian Empress of Opportunities,” the woman replied blithely. “And honestly Amy, with as much power and ability that flows through your veins, you quite lack in terms of inference.”

Annoyed, she replied, “My inference wouldn’t be lacking if you’d stop beating around the bush and get to the point.”

“Ooo-hoo,” Queentia giggled again, waggling a blue finger, “so very feisty.”

“You say you’re a Guardian Empress of Opportunity and you’re here to give me one to fix something,” Amy insisted. “What is it?”

Growing serious, Queentia nodded. “There are cracks in time and space, my dear child. Cracks I know you know very well.”

Amy stood up straight, shocked, “Yes. There was one on my bedroom wall as a child.”

“Yes, I know,” Queentia stated. “Do you know what they are called?”

Taken aback, Amy shook her head. “Cracks?” she shrugged.

Queentia rolled her solid black eyes, “Rifts, Amy. They are called rifts. Sensitive, weak points all throughout time and space, linking one world or universe to another.”

Eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar, she tried to catch up, “Did you say rifts? Like the rift the Doctor said Torchwood was guarding. Where Jack Harkness is?”

Queentia gravely nodded. “The universe is splintering, Amy, and only you can stop it.”

She swallowed, “How? And why only me? Why aren’t you talking to the Doctor?”

“The Doctor caused it,” Queentia said insistently. “And in light of recent discussions, I believe you can guess how.”

Unfortunately, she did. “Because of Jack?”

“Because of allowing Jack to become immortal based on his own personal feelings for him. He has sacrificed everything to maintain a timeline that is jeopardizing all of creation.”

Amy scowled, suddenly angry this woman could accuse her Doctor of being so foolish, “How do you know? Why should I trust you?”

“Is there any other explanation that the very rift his Jack sits atop and monitors are spreading through all galaxies and universes?” 

Amy could tell from those large, unblinking eyes this being was serious. Her anger deflated slightly. “Why does it have to be me?”

Queentia smiled fondly at her, “Because you love the Doctor enough to do the right thing. Because you aren’t selfish, like some people believe.”

Amy felt her tears from earlier burn behind her eyes as the woman got up to approach her again. “What will happen? Will the Doctor have never known Jack?”

Queentia shook her head, “No. No, of course he will. In fact, it will be better. The Doctor will be with Jack.”

“How?”

Queentia pushed a piece of hair behind Amy’s ear, “The problem lies in how Jack Harkness became a time agent. He should have been bonded and stayed true to his Omega make-up. If we can disrupt the timeline and put it back to right, The Doctor will have his Omega mate and the universe will seal back up.”

Dubious, Amy narrowed her eyes, “Just like that?”

Queentia nodded. “The side effect would be, of course, that the Doctor and you would have never crossed paths; but that would be okay. He would be with his mate where he belongs, and you would be with Rory. You wouldn’t even know he was gone.”

Gasping, she choked out, “I wouldn’t know the Doctor anymore?”

“No,” the alien replied sadly. “But as I said, it would be okay. You won’t remember him to even miss him. You’d be with Rory. Where you also belong.”

Amy studied the woman’s face for any sign of flinching or tells of lying and found none. So she uncrossed her arms and squared her shoulders, ready for action. This would be good. Her Doctor would have his mate, Rory would see she was capable of making decisions that benefitted people and that she was devoted to him, and the universe would be saved. And if she didn’t think to hard, she realized that yes that was what she wanted. 

A normal life with Rory, the man who loves her. A universe safe and sound. Her Doctor happy and whole with the love of his life. It was the right decision.

The only decision.

“Fine,” she agreed. “I’ll do it.”

Queentia smiled again, almost wolfishly, “Hold out your hand.”

Amy did as instructed and watched as Queentia held up a blue coin. 

“Close your eyes,” and Amy did. 

The alien placed it in her hand and touched her forehead, giggling again as she stepped back and away. 

Suddenly, she felt the TARDIS jolt, throwing her into the shelf of movies. Falling on the ground, she cries out from the unexpected pain and grunts she feels her rolled towards the couch.

They’re moving. 

No. 

Not moving, falling. 

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

The sound of the TARDIS wailing loud and strong was the last thing she heard, as a blinding blue light enveloped the room. 

And then she knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments, kudos, and bookmarks are appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comment/Kudos/Bookmarks appreciated!


End file.
